Review: Catherine and Anne exhibition at Hever Castle

Following on from last year’s “Becoming Anne” exhibition, this year the Hever castle curatorial team have put together a new exhibition – “Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers”. It is promoted as an exploration of the similarities between two women (Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn) who are usually viewed through the lense of their rivalry. At the centre of this exploration are two printed (and illuminated) Books of Hours – one owned by Catherine and one by Anne – which Kate McCaffrey has identified as coming from the same small print run in 1527. The exhibition also covers some aspects of their lives that are less widely known – in particular their childhoods and Anne’s sweating sickness in 1528 – and brings in costumes from film and television (Anne of a Thousand Days, Elizabeth, and Becoming Elizabeth).

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